Booking and Admin Help

Please see the information below for details about the assessment booking process and other administration items.

If you’re booking an AM2 or AM2S assessment please take note of the following information before you start:

Selecting the Correct Assessment – AM2 or AM2S

Training Providers must register candidates on the correct assessment for the correct apprenticeship. These are:

Apprenticeship Framework: AM2

Apprenticeship Standard: AM2S

NET does not have access to candidate registration details and cannot check, verify or confirm which assessment a candidate needs to undertake.

Candidates must undertake the AM2S not AM2 if they are on the Apprenticeship Standard. The EPA can only take place once the prescribed gateway checks have been approved.

Putting a candidate through the wrong assessment OR putting a candidate through EPA without satisfying the gateway checks is a serious breach of ESFA regulations. NET is required to notify all such instances to ESFA and other relevant parties for further investigation.

How to Book an Assessment

AM2

Training providers wishing to book an AM2 assessment should contact their chosen NET assessment centre in the first instance.

AM2S

To book an AM2S assessment, training providers need to contract with NET directly.

Once the contract is in place, this will allow you to submit candidate evidence for gateway checks and book an assessment at your chosen centre, once the candidate has been authorised for assessment.

Mandatory Evidence

AM2

AM2S

The following items must be submitted as part of the gateway check before booking an AM2S assessment:

The mandatory AM2S Candidate Checklist

The technical qualifications: City & Guilds 601/6299-5 or EAL 601/7345/2

Maths & English Level 2

FESS

The following items must be submitted as part of the gateway check before booking a FESS assessment:

The checklist for the relevant pathway

Certificated evidence of attainment of Level 2 English

Certificated evidence of attainment of Level 2 Maths

Evidence of achievement of the ECS Health and Safety test

Fees

AM2

The current recommended price for the AM2 assessment until 31 March 2020 is £685. The recommended price from 01 April 2020 is £710

The recommended price for re-sits is as follows:

Section

Re-sit fee until 31/03/2020

Re-sit fee from 01/04/2020

A

£365

£385

A1, C1, D

£110

£120

B, C2

£170

£180

Please note: Prices are reviewed annually. Re-sit charges for each section take account of the additional resource for centres in scheduling ad hoc activity rather than entire assessments. If a candidate needs to re-sit multiple sections, the charge must not exceed the maximum recommended price for AM2 or AM2S.

AM2S

The recommended price from 01 April 2019 is £720. From 01 April 2020 the recommended price will be £755. The recommended price for re-sits is as follows:

Section

Re-sit fee 01/04/19 – 31/03/20

Re-sit fee from 01/04/2020 – 31/03/2021

A

£400

£425

A1, C, E

£110

£120

B, D

£170

£180

Please note: Re-sit charges for each section take account of the additional resource for centres in scheduling ad hoc activity rather than entire assessments. If a candidate needs to re-sit multiple sections, the charge must not exceed the maximum recommended price for AM2 or AM2S.

FESS

The initial EPA cost is £1925 per person, valid till 31 March 2021.

RE-SIT SECTION

RE-SIT FEE PER SECTION

Installation Section

£700

Safe Working Section

£150

System Takeover

£275

Online Test

£150

Professional Discussion

£425

Note: Re-sit fees should not exceed recommended total EPA cost. Fees take account of the extra resource and cost to centres in providing partial re-sit support.

Re-Sits

AM2

The number of re-sits that can be taken by an apprentice/candidate will be at the discretion of their employer.

NET would require an apprentice/candidate action plan to be submitted after 3 re-sits, outlining any training to be carried out.

NET may restrict re-sit approval if verifiable training has not been completed and may contact the Training Provider, employer or candidate for confirmation. NET has the right to block candidates if suitable training has not taken place or there have been an excessive number of re-sits.

AM2S

The number of re-sits that can be taken by an apprentice will be at the discretion of their employer, unless the assessment plan limits this to one.

The ESFA recommends a limit of two re-sits, however more than two re-sits can be taken if needed, unless otherwise specified in the assessment plan. An action plan would need to be submitted after 2 re-sits.

If more than one section needs to be re-sat, this would need to be a re-take following further training.

FESS

Candidates only have to re-sit the section that was failed, with the exception of Additions to Systems and Commissioning. If either of these two areas result in failure, the whole Installation section must be re-taken.

From the assessment plan: Some elements of the assessment will be regarded as safety-critical. Failure to meet the required standard in those areas identified as safety critical will result in an immediate failure of the component. Safety critical elements will be identified during on-programme training and assessment, and will include areas such as electrical isolation, aspects of Health and Safety and compliance with legally enforced regulations. A resit will only be eligible for further funding if additional learning has been undertaken and in compliance with current funding rules that may apply.

Candidates receiving a failure in these safety-critical circumstances will need to have a review of performance before being allowed through the assessment gateway for one further attempt at the end-point assessment.

Candidates receiving a Fail grade in any other circumstances will be allowed to attempt the end-point assessment on one further occasion. They will undertake a different assessment series to maintain fairness and standardisation of assessments. Any candidate retaking any assessment can still achieve Pass and Distinction grades for any components retaken.

Marginal (non-Fail) failures in non-safety critical aspects during practical assessments are permitted as long as the assessor is otherwise satisfied that the apprentice is competent and works safely to an acceptable standard. Such failures therefore do not automatically result in a Fail grade. The assessor can explore the issues further during the professional dialogue.

Candidate PLR

AM2

Candidate PLRs are not required for the AM2 assessment.

AM2S

The apprentice must provide formal evidence of an achievement of an acceptable equivalent qualification. This should be in the form of an official qualification certificate from the awarding organisation, or (if the apprentice does not have a qualification certificate and cannot source a replacement from the awarding organisation), a formal notification and/or statement of results, issued by the awarding organisation or a screen shot of their Personal Learner Record which must contain apprentice details, unique learner number, qualification achieved, awarding organisation date achieved and grade awarded.

Please note: where PLRs are submitted in PDF format in place of certificates the relevant qualification is initialled with an asterisk or coloured highlighter. Please only submit the ‘learner achievement’ which is required as the mandatory evidence and not the learner events for candidate privacy and data protection.

FESS

The apprentice must provide formal evidence of achievement of an acceptable equivalent qualification. This should be in the form of an official qualification certificate from the awarding organisation, or (if the apprentice does not have a qualification certificate and cannot source a replacement from the awarding organisation), a formal notification and/or statement of results, issued by the awarding organisation or a screen shot of their Personal Learner Record which must contain apprentice details, unique learner number, qualification achieved, awarding organisation date achieved and grade awarded.

Please note: where PLRs are submitted in PDF format in place of certificates the relevant qualification is initialled with an asterisk or coloured highlighter. Please only submit the ‘learner achievement’ which is required as the mandatory evidence and not the learner events for candidate privacy and data protection.

Certification

AM2

Once the candidate been successful in their AM2 assessment, NET will issue the Assessment of Occupational Competence certificate.

Please note NET does issue the apprenticeship completion certificate for the apprenticeship framework.

AM2S

Please note that NET applies for the apprenticeship certificate, and not individual training providers or centres. The certification service is carried out by ESFA.

Step 1: NET completes the apprenticeship certification request once the candidate has successfully achieved the AM2S.

Step 2: NET will submit the request weekly

Step 3: Validation checks are carried out on the requests submitted

Step 4: The outcome of the verification is reported back to NET

Step 5: Successful requests are processed and sent to print

Step 6: The printer will send the certificate to the apprentice’s employer by recorded delivery.

FESS

Please note that NET applies for the apprenticeship certificate, and not individual training providers or centres. The certification service is carried out by ESFA.

Step 1: NET completes the apprenticeship certification request once the candidate has successfully achieved the EPA.

Step 2: NET will submit the request weekly

Step 3: Validation checks are carried out on the requests submitted

Step 4: The outcome of the verification is reported back to NET

Step 5: Successful requests are processed and sent to print

Step 6: The printer will send the certificate to the apprentice’s employer by recorded delivery.

Appeals

Before lodging an appeal, it is very important that you have read and fully understood the NET Appeals Policy.

Appeal Stage 1

If you believe you have a case to make a formal appeal, the first step is to raise an initial appeal with your assessment centre. We recommend doing so in writing by post or email, outlining the details of your concern and seeking a written response. We advise that candidates retain copies of all correspondence and/or records of any discussions with the centre in relation to their appeal. If you are unable to reach a satisfactory outcome after this process has run its course, you may elevate your case to a stage 2 appeal.

Appeal Stage 2

EQA Charges – AM2S and FESS

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IFATE) has now appointed Open Awards to carry out its External Quality Assurance service. As a result, the IfATE has confirmed that a £40 charge per apprentice will be imposed for all AM2S and FESS assessments that take place after 01 November 2019, irrespective of when the assessment was booked. AM2 is not affected.

NET has no control over these charges and will be required to pass the charge in full to the EQA provider. NET will add the charges to centre invoices monthly for all in-scope assessments and centres will need to adjust their invoices for assessment accordingly.

Expiry of AM2 sections

The NET board has agreed that from 31 August 2019, a 2-year time limit will be introduced for candidates to pass all required elements of an assessment. Individual sections that were passed will ‘expire’ after that time if the candidate has not successfully completed the remaining sections. A candidate can re-register but will be required to complete all sections.

This will apply to assessments where the first sitting takes place from 31 August 2019. Further details will be posted on the NET website along with more information on an ‘exceptional circumstances’ process associated with this change.